Buy a home or have one built?

Fair point, I guess each situation should be judged on its own merit, IE, a married man, with kids and plenty of wonga might feel secure enough to take the chance, I guess its easy to fly off on a negative tangent having heard so many horror stories over the years, though for some losing a home is like water of a ducks back, one old chap I know has been taken for a mug four times but clearly has the means to not to be bothered by it as he is the proccess of setting himself up for the 5th time.

Good luck to those going down that road however.

- If you're not sure you're staying here long term, try a rental for about a year to gauge if you really like it..

- If you do know you're staying long term, then shop around and look at a variety of developments to get an idea what you really want to build.. If a development suits your needs, go for it.

- On building it yourself; plan, plan, plan.. KNOW EXACTLY what you want. Don't start building and get a wild hair up your ass every week and have the contractor adding/changing... This will cost you moah money!! Planning properly also means land prep if you're doing landfill to raise the property.. LET IT SIT for a goodly time to compact/settle, otherwise you'll have major cracks in your walls. Have full buy-in from your other half and get full-blown drawings done from whatever initial plans you develop.. If necessary stake out the land to show the other half the layout.. Find a contractor that has a good reputation or absent knowing anyone to recommend them, go look at previous houses they built and as many of them as possible. Better yet, look at houses they built 1-3 years prior to see how the work holds up. As an earlier poster stated, you've got to be there on the ground to watch the contractor.. Remember, he's not your buddy, he's trying to make the highest profit he can so if you don't specify specific building materials, they'll buy cheap stuff to increase the profit margin.. As you watch the building go up, don't get mad (once more DON'T GET MAD!!) if the contractor cocks up portions of the work. Just have solid contract specifications that you can point to and say, "take it down, do it again." DO NOT expect your Thai half to be your "inspector". They invariably will not be able to be a hard ass to get things done right..

If you do solid planning, select a decent contractor and monitor the work, you'll have a nice place..

Oh, remember, money goes a lot farther over here than back home.. Don't get the typical Farang big head and decide to build the Taj Mahal.. Keep it reasonable.. And as earlier posters commented.. NEVER think that your oh so lovely house is EVER going to be worth the money you put into it.. Your wonderful palace make look nice to you but be entirely unmarketable..

I believe first of all start slow.Maybe find A place to rent and then look at houses for sale.Then take your time shop around for contractors.
Just like in the previous threads,do what ya think is best for you.Just remember don't hurry ,take your time.

bullgoose wrote:Why would anyone buy or build a house you cannot own and which can be taken from you at any time ?

Long term rental the safe way to go.

And where are you going to rent that house?

In a ghetto where your bedroom is 2m away from your neighbor's living room?
A house with 3 bedrooms size 3mx3m?
What if you want to live in green surroundings far from street noise (dogs, roosters and children)
What if you want space, re 1 rai of land and a swimming pool?
What if you want a decent bathroom, kitchen, electricity, water supply?
What if you want to live say 20m from the sea?

Those might be some of the many reasons why some decide to built a house to live in until we die or get thrown out...

Ho,
Some posters say you cannot own a house. This is incorrect. you can own a house, but you can't own the land. There are a few ways of getting around this, my way was to put the land in my wife's name and get the papers signed so I can live there for 30 years, with the option of a further 30 years. You then cannot be "chucked out" as some people say.
I bought my home in 2005 for 980.000B. Inside the ring road, In stirling, then was less than 14,000GBP. Got GBP's sent over here and converted in LOS. Now a similar house in the same area, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, is selling for 2MB at today's rate 40,000GBP. The same type of house to rent is about 10,000B a month, and rents have a habit of increasing, never seen any decrease. Also I can do anything I want with the house to make my life comfortable, Not bad. If I sold the house now, not that I would, after splitting 50-50 with wife, I still would have about double GBP's than what I paid for it. And what I would pay in rent would have bought me the house in about 8 years of renting.
I'm very happy with what I did. Other people have different needs and this way might not suit them. Horses for courses. I just thank God I did not take peoples advice and rent, like they told me to do.
Just thought i'd give you my experances.
Cheers Doug.

Well I am sorry for those whose only reason for preferring to rent is that they may lose their money if they buy and the TW cons them . To me that shows a level of distrust or doubt in the partner that would have precluded me from developing the relationship anyway. What about your landlord? Surely he is pocketing your money every month and you don't get to sleep with him .How much more sensible to make repayments on a mortgage if you don't want to outlay the capital .
Without the appreciation factor that Douglas mentions, you will be accumulating a tidy sum which , even if your relationship goes pear shaped, will give you and her, money in hand. How much of your rent back will either of you have?
It must be obvious whether you are renting a house or even a car, someone has bought it and is now making a profit on your renting it . Why shouldn't that someone be you? Even without the financial considerations there are other factors . For me, I get pride and pleasure from having my own home as does my wife. We put plants in the garden knowing that we will see them mature. The small trees we planted all those years ago, we can now enjoy sitting in the shade of. We have spent the last week painting the surrounding wall and ornamental ironwork, and at the end of each day, tired and exhausted, we look at our work and are happy to see "our" home looking nice again .You know. I like to travel so a couple of times a year we take a holiday somewhere, but it doesn't matter how good the break was, when we are opening our gates, we both say the same thing " Nice to be home" Could you really say that about a rented property no matter how luxurious it was ? No doubts in my mind.
To answer the original question. I built my own in the country but the benefits outlined above should also apply to a developers house .

Rented five properties in different parts of Thailand before finally buying in Udon got my deposit back from two of the landlords, 50% from one and nothing from two. No damage was done to these properties it was all about normal wear and tear eg. warped doors, lifting tiles etc. so although i do recommend you rent for a while before you buy, make sure you get a decent rental agreement drawn up. Chose a house in an estate in town and as OT said the rest of the estate looks fairly shabby mainly because the thai neighbours after buying their house usually just let it gradually fall down, but that doesnt bother me as it just makes our well maintained house look even better. Even if you do trust your wife unconditionally you should still get a thirty year lease on the land just in case something happens to your wife as in this case you will be at the mercy of her family who may seem nice now but will suddenly change when they stand to inherit a 3million baht property.

If you buy a house in your wife's name and she dies you inherit the house if it is so stated in her will. The house goes in your name. The law states you must sell it in 2 1/2 years but they usually won't come after you after the 2 1/2 years. If you check with FBI Real Estate he can tell you a couple of options that will protect you to some extent.